


Morning Routines and New Beginnings

by TheFoolsKnightober (TheFoolsKnight)



Series: Flufftober 2020 [4]
Category: The Eldest Curses Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Childhood, Family Feels, Femininity, Fluff, Flufftober, Flufftober 2020, Gen, Halloween, M/M, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26815081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoolsKnight/pseuds/TheFoolsKnightober
Summary: Flufftober Day 4 - ChildhoodRafael slowly begins to fit into the Lightwood-Bane family, and along the way, makes an important self discovery.
Relationships: Magnus Bane & Alec Lightwood & Max Lightwood-Bane & Rafael Lightwood-Bane, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Flufftober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948024
Comments: 7
Kudos: 68





	Morning Routines and New Beginnings

It was no secret to anyone in the household that Rafael had always loved makeup.

He'd always looked at Magnus in the morning with an admiring gaze as he put on his makeup, brushing glitter onto his eyelids and lining his eyes in black and lips in various shades of red and blue and purple and black, depending on his mood. Rafael was there every morning ever since Alec brought him home two weeks ago, sitting by Magnus by the time Alec stepped out of his shower. Alec had to resort to dressing up in the walk-in closet instead of the bedroom, because while he didn't mind Magnus seeing him in the nude, it was rather awkward with Rafael around, but he never minded. Then he would come out, walk up to Magnus and let him kiss any excess lipstick into Alec's palm, where he could hide the mark from other’s eyes and look at it until it faded away from the exertion of the day. Rafael would turn his face away when Alec and Magnus shared a goodbye kiss, and then Alec would wave them goodbye before waking up Max and greeting him, after which Alec left for the institute.

This had been their morning routine for a very long time.

Until one day, when Alec and Magnus returned home after a romantic date during which Jace and Clary looked after the children. Max ran right up to them, squealing and hugging their legs until Alec hoisted him up and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. From beside him, Magnus asked,

"Where's Rafe?" 

"He's in his bedroom," Jace replied. "He wanted to read one of those children's novels you got him."

Clary gave Max, Alec and Magnus each one last hug, and then the two left, Jace waving at Max even as Magnus closed the door. Alec put Max down and told Magnus,

"I'm gonna go check on Rafael."

Magnus murmured something in agreement, still busy with taking off his overly complicated coat with way too many buttons. Max ran off to play with his toy dinosaurs, and Alec carefully stepped across the mess of toys and crayons on the ground, turned into the hallway where Rafael's bedroom was, and slowly pushed it open, expecting to see Rafael lying in his bed with a book in his hand.

But he wasn't there.

Panic gripped Alec’s heart like a vice, he turned away, and yelled at Magnus, who had just entered the hallway and was about to open the door to their bedroom, "Rafael's not here!"

Magnus's eyes widened. "What do you mean, 'Rafael's not here'?"

"He's not in his bedroom!"

Magnus jerked his head at the door that led to Max's bedroom. "Look in there."

Alec wasted no time. He ran to Max's bedroom and threw the door open. Rafael wasn't in there, either. Alec turned to Magnus, about to tell him so, but paused when he saw Magnus's expression. He was standing in the doorway, one hand on the dark wood, looking into the room with surprise on his face.

"You can stop looking for him," he told him. "He's in here."

Alec raised an eyebrow and walked over to his side. Inside the bedroom, Rafael was sitting on the stool in front of Magnus's vanity, his face covered in powder and lipstick, and he held what looked like an eyeliner in one hand. There was a smudge of black under one wide eye, both of which were trained on Magnus, as if waiting for a bomb to explode. Magnus  _ had  _ joked a few times about incinerating anyone who came close to his makeup, and Rafael had been around during these times, but now Alec wondered whether or not Rafael knew that they were simply jokes.

Magnus sighed, shaking his head sadly, and said, "That's  _ not  _ how you apply eyeliner, mijo."

Rafael visibly relaxed. Magnus stepped closer to him, wiping away his makeup with the wipes that he kept on the vanity, and patiently showed him how to properly apply makeup. Alec was simply content to sit by and watch the two of them, joined later by Max who saw what was going on and demanded that they put the colors on his face, too. The night ended with Alec sitting on that stool, Magnus applying makeup to his face as well, simply because the kids had asked, and he had been too enamoured to say no.

The next morning onwards, Alec left home with two smudges of lipstick on his palm.

After that, Rafael got more open with the two of them, asking for things he wanted to have. Magnus was very happy to give him whatever he wanted, which usually included things like dolls and books and, on one occasion, a plastic tea set. The house had been full of cars and stuffed animals and plastic dinosaurs, because Max loved those, and they were now joined by several toys of Rafael's liking, too. Rafael seemed much happier now, although there was this time when one of Magnus’s clients saw Rafael holding a tea party with Max in the balcony and made a rude remark. Magnus had obviously been very angry about it and gave him a stern telling off, after which he refused to ever serve that client again.

A few years passed by, and one day, after the kids managed to convince the two of them to let them celebrate Halloween, Magnus asked,

"So, what do you want to dress up as?"

"I wanna be a dinosaur!" Max exclaimed, jumping up and down with all the energy of a seven year old. "I wanna be a big T-Rex!"

Magnus grinned. "As you wish, blueberry. And what about you, Rafe?"

Rafael hesitated a moment, then said, "Can I be a Cinderella?"

"Of course!" Magnus said with no hesitation. "I'll turn you into a wonderful Cinderella, mijo."

A beautiful smile spread across Rafael's face, and Alec couldn't help but smile, too. If his son was happy, then he was happy, too.

Halloween came not long after, and while Alec helped Max into his dinosaur suit, Magnus sat Rafael on the stool in front of the vanity, carefully smudging blue eyeshadow onto his eyelids. He was dressed in a blue ballgown, a wig of black curls perched atop his head. (Rafael had made a distasteful face in the mirror when Magnus tried a blonde wig, so he had immediately switched it out). 

Alec looked from Max, who was walking around with his hands held out, pretending to be an actual dinosaur, to Rafael, whose makeup was now done. He was staring at himself in the mirror, looking astonished, as if he couldn't believe that it was himself that he was seeing.

"Do you like it, Rafe?" Magnus asked.

Rafael reached up a gloved hand, brushing his cheek, and then tore his gaze away from the mirror to grin up at Magnus, exclaiming something in Spanish with his eyes bright. 

Magnus turned his head up to look at Alec. "He says he loves it."

Alec grinned. "Perfect, shall we go now?"

The kids agreed enthusiastically, and Magnus conjured up paper bags for them to carry around. Alec and Magnus walked them downstairs, letting them walk around and collect sweets while they simply sat on the front steps, enjoying each other's company. Occasionally a few kids would come around, asking for candy, and Magnus would sneakily summon some candy and give it to them.

"Where did you get the candy?" Alec asked with a disapproving note after they left.

Magnus smirked at him. "I just got candy from their bags and gave it back to them."

" _ Magnus." _

"Just kidding!" Magnus held up his arms. "I summoned it from a candy store nearby. I swear."

Alec relaxed. "Good."

The next afternoon, Alec decided to drop by for lunch instead of going to Taki's with the rest, and Magnus managed to convince him to stay a little longer before returning to his duties as Consul. Alec, never the one to be able to say no to Magnus, decided to stay. The two were sitting in the living room, cuddling on the couch while  _ What Not to Wear  _ played on TV, when Max ran into the room, dragging Rafael along.

"Daddy, Bapak!" he shrieked. "Rafael has something to tell you!"

Alec and Magnus's gaze immediately switched to Rafael, who deflated as soon as they looked at him, as if he had lost whatever resolve he had to say what he'd wanted to say the moment he saw them. Alec looked at him, looked at the nervous twitch of his hands and his eyes that darted hither and tither, and realised that he looked almost  _ scared.  _

Magnus must've noticed it too, because he turned off the television with a flick of his hand and turned all this attention to Rafael.

"Mijo, what's wrong?" Magnus said softly. Rafael bit his lip and turned his face away, and for a moment familiarity hit Alec in the face like a mallet.

He remembered the old days, when he was always hesitant, always afraid that a wrong move would reveal his true nature to his parents or to Jace and he'd get shunned by his family. He never wanted anyone to ever feel that way, not if he could help it. It broke his heart now, to recognize a bit of that hesitancy in his son.

"Rafe, come here," Alec said, holding out a hand to him. Rafael stepped closer, and Alec pulled him into the circle of his arms, kissing his forehead before saying, "We love you, Rafael. We will always love you, and whatever you tell us now won't change any of that, you know that, right?"

Rafael slowly nodded. Magnus smiled suddenly, as if he realised what was going on, and reached out to ruffle Rafael's hair. "Don't be shy, mijo. We're your family. You can tell us  _ anything." _

Rafael gulped, and then said, "I… I think I'm a girl."

Rafael looked at the two of them, as if he were awaiting a judgment. Alec remembered feeling that exact same fear, the first time he'd faced his parents after kissing Magnus in front of everyone. He remembered seeing the same fear in so many other people afterwards, and felt a stab of anger at society for making people feel ashamed for who they were.

But now wasn't the time to be angry. Alec shared a look with Magnus, and then shot Rafael a small smile.

"Okay," he said, and Rafael's eyes widened just the slightest bit. "So that means we have a daughter now."

"We'll have to update your wardrobe, then," Magnus said, pulling an astonished Rafael into his arms and giving her a kiss. "I'll buy loads of dresses for you. Do you like dresses, Rafe?"

"I do," Rafael said with a small smile. "Thank you."

"There’s nothing to thank me for, hija," Magnus said in a light tone. "I'm your bapak. It's my duty to buy you dresses."

"I told you they'd be happy!" Max exclaimed, stepping closer and hugging Rafael. "I told you, what your friend said was stupid!"

Alec frowned at that. "Why, what did your friend say, Rafe?"

"It doesn't matter," Rafael said, all smiles now, and Alec realised they'd have to change her name now.

"If you say so," Magnus said, giving her another kiss on the forehead. "Actually, why don't we go for that shopping trip right now?"

Rafael grinned her approval, and Alec pulled out his phone, ready to cancel any appointments he had for the next few hours. All in all, he was glad his daughter wouldn't have to live her childhood in fear like he did once.


End file.
